The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron has stepped down.
First, it was UKIP’s leader, Paul Nuttall, now it’s the turn of the Liberal Democrat’s leader, Tim Farron to bow out of party leadership.
The leader who was consistently asked about his views on the sinfulness homosexuality during the election campaign said that he was “torn between living as a faithful Christian and serving as a political leader”.
During a press conference, Mr Farron said that he recognised that he should have dealt with certain questions that related to his faith “more wisely”.
During the campaign, Mr Farron was asked numerous times about his thoughts on the sinfulness of homosexuality and whether gay sex was a sin. Although he did manage to answer once on both questions, he found it almost impossible to give a straight answer whenever he was questioned on the subject.
Mr Farron became the party leader in 2015 after a close battle with Norman Lamb. His leadership was backed by one of the UK’s highest-profile openly gay peers, Brian Paddick, who yesterday also resigned, citing concerns over Tim Farron’s views.
Possible successors include Sir Vince Cable, Jo Swinson, Sir Ed Davey and Norman Lamb.
Post-election, the Liberal Democrats did manage to add seats in the latest election, however, it was a far cry from the hoped-for resurgence of the Lib Dems since most of their seats were wiped out following a coalition with the Tories from 2010 to 2015.
